Switchboard cord reel



March 26, 1940.

' /N 5 N 70/? By M. O. FULLERTON ATTORNEY Patented Mar. 26, 1940 res. PAT ENT swrrcneonnn oonnnnnn William Fullerton, West" Orange, N. 1., assign or to Bell" Telephone Laboratories; Incorpo'; M

rated; New York, N. Y.', a; corporation of New-1 York ApplicationDecemberl6, 138Senial No. {246.117

1i Glaims. .(Cl-Jli'il -Bfi) Thisinvention relatesto telephone switchboard equipment, and. particularly to cord. disposal or take-up. reels used. generally for. storing telephone cords.

improved means fonfstoring telephone cords which renders practicable-the use of cords of standard lengths with. switchboarcls having. key-shelves lower than those-Iin common usage today. 10. This object-is attained in accordance with a featureof the invention by employing a cord take-.

up device having a pair of cord storage reels of.

is associate-cl with thati portionoi" the cord which.

extends from the'smallerreel to a point on the switchboard at which the cord endis fixed;

' The invention will be readily understood from the following detailed'description made with reference to the accompanying drawingv in which:

Fig. 1 isa-cross sectional outline ofa telephone switchboard showing-the cord. take-up device of this inventioniin position and. illustrating the.

manner in which the cord is disposecl'on the two reel sections; I

' 9 Fig; enlargedfragmentarysicle'elevation of the cord reel withpertain portions broken" away to disclose theyrelative sizes of the cord storage sections-and the cord groove or duct .interconnecting the two sections;

My Fig; 3 isan enlarged-front view of'the reelta'kenj along-the line 3 --3ofl1"ig. 1' lookingfin the di rection of the arrows; and

Fig. 4 is a section'takenalong. the line 4 -4 of l lookingfintlre direction' of the arrows. In Fig. 1 the numeral l'llidentifi'es a telephone switchboard having a key-shelf ll whose vertical distance from theffloor or base-of the'switchboard.

is, less than'standarcl. The key-shelfof the standarct-switch'boardis located fortvinches from the floor of the exchange in which. the switchboard" is located. and accormnodatesi the .plugencls. of ai plurality of circuit completing cords, each. of"

which is sixfeet in length. 1 offthe drawing is intended to illustrate ,a key-shelf locateclthirty 55; inches from thefloor and .equippedwith acorcl It is the objectjoi this invention to provide an takeLup reel 05*. such construction. as toperni'ijt the:

standarct six-footmords to-be used.

fIZhe-take-up reel. f; the-present.inventionisot a. double pulley-likecohstruction having..a pain I of integral. hubs-or sections 12 anti/l3. rotatablyr' mountedwon a commonrshait. 2'0. 'Eixed to; the.

doublehuh construction in. any. suitablelrnanner are the guide plates 14,15 and-l6. The: plates I4- anal! l5,.ancl:the=huhsection l'iforma reellhavingf a cord.v storage space. IIB definecllb-y. the. periphery L of'hub l3 and the portions of plates. M; and; i5 which extend. beyond. the. hub. [3; The plates l 5 ancllfi andlhub. define a similar cord storage,

area. 33..

. .-jAsIiIIuStrated,-:the.huh'sectien l3 isgreater'in 15- diameter than. the hub section l2 and. is pro-' videdlwithia slightly diagonal or angular bore or. cllioti z i'lwhich-i'extends.fromtheperiphery of the hub EBLa-t aninclinethroughthe body ofthehuh; L3} to anoint 29f..- Dueto-its inclination thebore or. diict willassume theinature. om 'gtoovejor j cha'nnellformedmn thesideofithe hub l3i'next-t'o theQplate. i 51.]. The plate. I iis provided with a cor;

' responding opening j'which constitutes a continu 1 ant er thegroove 25,, Thelocationoithe out-"[25.

let LZQiof the groove in plate 1'5 with respect to the. periphery of the'sniallerhuhv I2 isso deter mined as toprecmde, the possihilit'yir 'hurnpirigf atthatjpoint. I Tlj'iecshaftfi'fi extends; the lengthlof the switchboa-rd QrOtataB-ly supports a plurality of" the, 'cordtalieeupdevices.described'above..Theshaftf I is s@: positioned-as.to-locate the cordreels irnme-f A shown in Fig. '1. The plug shelfl in acoorrlanc'e- 35.

with well-known practice; is'provilie'ctwith. a plurality of holes" or plugf seats each" of which a The t elephone cord" 24 may be considered" as consisting'ofitwo majorjportions; aplugend' or-r ti'onfwhich' is woundlonithelargerreel" section [3 andfafixedfend' portion which iswound' onth'e smaller reelsection jlzfaridfhas itsendfiiiecl tofthe cord shelf; 23; and; an 'interconn ectingt portion which isdiposedwithintheduct 25. 'Ihefiked .5, end section carriesa weighted pulley 21' as illus trated'l Theip'athofthejcorgi'may'betrajced from 'its fi'xe'clfend; around pulley '21, over the smaller hubfse'etion lZIin a clockwise direction; through. v 1 thetductz'c' byrway ofthe jopeningfl in plate' I5, 5

and. thence over the'largerihub section I 3 in sev eral ,convolutions to itsplugijposition' inrthe plujgt sl'l'ejl fz'l.

Ther'cord 'clisnosalreeloperates in thefo'llowing f I manner: "As the; plug?v 22 tisseizedihyan operator" M and plugged into a jack in the switchboard inthe extension of a telephone connection, the cord is pulled through the plug seat causing the reel to rotate in a clockwise direction on its shaft 20. The cord portion wound on the larger hub section l3 starts to unwind. At the same time the cord portion suspended from the smaller hub sectionl2 starts to wind up on l2. The weighted pulley 2i suspended from the second cord section exerts a pull on the cord which, if the weight is heavy enough, causes the reel to turn in a counterclockwise direction as soon as the plug end of the cord is released. The plug end portion of the cord will therefore rewind itself on the larger hub l3 and the portion on the-smaller hub l2 will unwind.

The device is designed with one hub section of greater diameter than the other so that when the cord is pulled out by the operator, a greater length of cord will be unwound from the larger hub section or reel than is wound up on the smaller hub or reel. The reverseof this is. true when the cord is released. As the plug end of the cord is pulled out, therefore, the cord weight will travel a'relatively short distance in comparison to the length of cord withdrawn by the operator. By the proper selection of the ratio between the two hub diameters standard length cords can be 1 stored in a relatively small space, thereby render- 30 ing their use with switchboards havinglow keyshelves practicable.

Though applicant has elected to illustrate his invention as applied to the storage of telephone switchboard cords, it is apparent that it is equal- 1y applicable to the storage of "other types of electric cords. It will also be apparent that in its application to telephone svvitchboards the cord storage device may be mounted in the upper section of a switchboard in which the cord plugs are carried on the vertical face of the board instead of on the horizontal key-shelf with a helical spring anchored to the rear of the board to serve the purpose of the weight associated with pulley 21.

As stated hereinbefore, the cord may be considered as consisting of two major portions, one depending from the smaller hub and the other wound upon the larger hub and terminating in a plug. The general purpose and functioning of the device illustrated may be preserved by actually constructing the cord in two pieces and anchoring each to its respective hub and providing contact terminals for efiectingthe electrical continuity of the cord.

What is claimed is:

1. In combination, a switchboard cord storage device comprising a pair of integrallyassociated reels of different diameters arranged in adjacent parallel 'planes, one of said reels having a duct extending from the hub periphery thereof .to a point adjacent the hub periphery of the other reel and a continuous cord having portions thereof wound in the same direction upon each ofsaid reels and an interconnecting portion disposed in said duct.

2. In combination, a switchboard cord storage device comprising a pair of rotatable integrally associated reels of different diametersparranged in adjacent parallel planes, the larger of said 70" reels having a duct therein extending from the hub periphery thereof to a point adjacent the hub periphery of said smaller reel and a continuous cord having a portion thereof Wound in the samedirection on each of said reels and an interconnecting portion disposed in said duct, the portion wound on said smaller reel having an end fixed to the switchboard and the portion wound on said larger reel terminating in a plug removably housed in the switchboard.

3. In combination, a switchboard, a rotatable cord storage device mounted on said switchboard and having a pair of integrally associated reels of difierent diameters arranged in adjacent parmlel planes, one of said reels having a duct therein extending from the hub periphery thereof to a point adjacent the hub periphery of the other reel, a continuous cord having portions thereof wound upon each of said reels and an interconnecting portion disposed within said duct one of said cord portions having its end fixed to said switchboard and a weight suspended from said last-mentioned portion at a point intermediate its fixed end and the reel upon which it is wound.

4. In combination, a device for storing a telephone cord comprising a pair of integrally associated reels rotatable on a commonaxis, one of said reels having a comunicating duct extending from its hub periphery to a point adjacent the hub periphery of the other of said reels, and a cord having a fixed end and a free end wound on both said reels and threaded through said duct in a continuous fashion, the free end of said cord adapted to be pulled to cause a portion of the cord associated with the free end thereof to be unwound from one of said reels and a portion of the cord associated with the fixed end thereof to be wound upon another of saidreels.

5. In combination, a device for storing a telephone cord comprising a pair of integrally associated reels rotatable on a common axis, one of said reels having a communicating duct extending from its hub periphery to a point adjacent the'hub periphery of the other of said reels, a cord having a fixed end and a free end wound on both said reels and threaded through said duct in a continuous fashion, and means comprising a weight suspended from said cord at a point intermediate its fixed end and one of said reels for causing said device to rotate whereby a portion of said cord is unwound from one of said reels and another portion is wound on another of said reels,

6. In combination, a device for storing a telephone cord comprising a pair of integrally associated reels rotatable on a common axis, one of said reels having a communicating duct extending from its periphery to a point adjacent the hub periphery of the other of said reels, a cord having a fixed end anda free end wound on both said reels and threaded through said duct in a continuous fashion, and means comprising a weight suspended from said cord at a point intermediate its fixed end and one of said reels for causing said device to rotate and cause a portion of the cord extending from its fixed end to be unwound from one of said reels and another portion of thecord extending from the free end to be wound upon another of said reels.

7. In combination, a continuous electric cord having a fixed end and a free end, and a rotatable device having a pair of reels upon each of which 8. In combination, a continuous cord having said reels, the smaller of said reels functions to take up a length of cord shorter than said predetermined length.

9. A cord storage device comprising a rotatable member having, two integral cord storage sections of diiferent diameters arranged in adjacent parallel planes and having an intercommunicating duct in which a cord section interconnecting the cord portions stored on said storage sections is disposed.

10. In combination, an electric cord storage device comprising a rotatable member having a pair of integrally associated cord storage reels,

said reels having hubs of different diameters, a cord wound upon the smaller of said hubs and having a depending portion and a cordwound upon the larger of said hubs and having a free end, said cords being so disposed upon their respective hubs that as the free end of said second cord is pulled to unwind a definitelength of the cord from the larger hub a smaller length of the depending portion of said first cord is wound upon the smaller hub. x 11. A cord storage device comprising a r0- tatable member having two integral cord storage reels, said reels havinghubs of difierent diameters and one of said hubs having an angular bore extending from its periphery to the periphery of the other hub, and the two hub peripheries and said bore constituting a continuous guide for a cord.

WILLIAM O. FULLERTON. 

